According to the ancient Indian Buddhist philosopher Candrakīrti, there is an important epistemological distinction to be made between conventional truth and conventional falsity. There are, he argues, ordinary standards of correctness and error. Nonetheless, he says, conventional truth is deceptive. And in a deep sense — entirely false.

In the following lecture, the philosopher Jay Garfield presents an account in which these assertions are consistent. It is an account of conventional truth from the perspective of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhism.